Netas with corruption charges unmasked

As India spoke in one voice against corruption earlier this month, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray urged citizens to take a pledge that they won’t exercise their franchise in lieu of money. Here’s some food for thought for Thackeray.

Three Shiv Sena corporators — Prabhakar Shinde, Mohan Lokegaonkar and Shubhada Gudekar — face corruption charges.

Information sought under the Right to Information Act from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has revealed that 10 elected people’s representatives — two MLAs and eight corporators — are facing inquiries over corruption charges.

Of the eight corporators, three are from the Shiv Sena, two belong to the Congress (Alijan Suleman Sheikh, Khan Rahebar Raja) and one each from the NCP (Sharad Shivkumar Pawar), BJP (Vishwanath Maske) and MNS (Parameshwar Kadam). Names of 13 other ‘corrupt’ elected representatives also cropped up, but inquiries against them were later stopped by the ACB.

The ACB list of candidates facing corruption charges is for the period between January 2000 and August 2011.

The bureau did not specify the total number of people’s representatives guilty of corruption as an applicant needs to demand specific information regarding the same. 

In the wake of Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption, political parties had committed to field clean candidates during elections. But the list of corruption charges against the leaders tells a different story.